Method and system for sharing modulation information between multiple access points

ABSTRACT

Aspects of a method and system for sharing modulation information between multiple access points may include receiving modulation control information and demodulation control information at an access point comprising one or more receivers and one or more transmitters. One or more modulation frequencies may be adjusted and utilized to generate transmit signals by the one or more transmitters based on the received modulation control information. One or more demodulation frequencies may be adjusted and utilized to generate intermediate frequency signals by the one or more receivers based on the received demodulation control information. The modulation control information and the demodulation control information may be received via a control point. The modulation control information and demodulation control information may be received on a link operating in a frequency band different from said transmit frequencies and said receive frequencies.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS/INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

Not applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments of the invention relate to signal processing forcommunication systems. More specifically, certain embodiments of theinvention relate to a method and system for sharing modulationinformation between multiple access points.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic communication has become prolific over the last decade. Whileelectronic communication was initially limited to the desktop, recenttrends have been to make communications, media content and the Internetavailable anytime, anywhere and, increasingly, on any device. Alreadynow, it is quite common to find mobile devices such as cellular phonesor Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) that incorporate a large range ofcommunication technologies and associated software. For example,fully-featured web-browsers, email clients, MP3 players, instantmessenger software, and Voice-over-IP may all be found on some recentdevices. The various communications may occur at different transmissionand/or reception bands.

Given the varying demands of users, service providers and devicemanufacturers have to support media content comprising voice, videoand/or data compliant with many different communication standards,specifications and/or data formats.

Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditionalapproaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, throughcomparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention asset forth in the remainder of the present application with reference tothe drawings.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method and/or system for sharing modulation information betweenmultiple access points, substantially as shown in and/or described inconnection with at least one of the figures, as set forth morecompletely in the claims.

These and other advantages, aspects and novel features of the presentinvention, as well as details of an illustrated embodiment thereof, willbe more fully understood from the following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless communicationsystem, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2A is a circuit diagram illustrating an exemplary repeaterarchitecture, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2B is a circuit diagram illustrating an exemplary lower complexityrepeater architecture, in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary frequency adjustmentprocess, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments of the invention may be found in a method and systemfor sharing information modulation information between multiple accesspoints. Aspects of a method and system for sharing informationmodulation information between multiple access points may comprisereceiving modulation control information and demodulation controlinformation at an access point comprising one or more receivers and oneor more transmitters. One or more modulation frequencies may be adjustedand utilized to generate transmit signals by the one or moretransmitters based on the received modulation control information. Oneor more demodulation frequencies may be adjusted and utilized togenerate intermediate frequency signals by the one or more receiversbased on the received demodulation control information.

The modulation control information and the demodulation controlinformation may be received via a control point. The modulation controlinformation and demodulation control information may be received on alink operating in a frequency band different from said transmitfrequencies and said receive frequencies. The frequency band of the linkmay be Bluetooth or a IEEE 802.11 Wireless Link. One or more of the oneor more modulation frequencies and the one or more demodulationfrequencies may be substantially similar. The transmit frequencies andthe receive frequencies may be in the 60 GHz band. A plurality of theintermediate frequency signals received via a plurality of antennas maybe combined. Intermediate frequency signals may be generated for the oneor more transmitters in accordance with multiple antenna transmissionprotocols. Radio frequency interference may be reduced during theadjustment of the receive frequencies and the adjustment of the transmitfrequencies.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless communicationsystem, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Referring toFIG. 1, there is shown an access point 112 b, a router 130, the Internet132, a web server 134, access points 104, 106, 108, 110, and 114, acontrol point 102, wireless connections 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d, 120e, 120 f, 120 g, and 120 h.

The access points 104, 106, 108, 110, and 114 may be substantiallysimilar and may comprise suitable logic, circuitry and/or code that maybe enabled to receive, process, and transmit radio signals. Inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention, the access points104, 106, 108, 110, and 114 may be arranged and/or configured so as toform a mesh network. Each access point may be enabled to communicatewith one or more other access points and/or the control point 102. Insome instances, an access point may be communicating with other networkcomponents, for example access point 114 may be communicatively coupledto access point 112 b via the wireless connection 120 h. A plurality ofexemplary wireless connections between the access points 104, 106, 108,110, and 114 and the control point 102 may be illustrated by thewireless connections 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d, 120 e, 120 f, 120 g,and 120 h.

The control point 102 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry and/or codethat may be enabled to send and receive control signals to/from theaccess points to control transmission frequency and/or networking, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

The access point 112 b may comprise suitable logic, circuitry and/orcode that may be enabled to transmit and receive radio frequency signalsfor communication of information comprising voice, video and/or data,for example, via the access point 114. The access point 112 b may alsobe enabled to communicate via a wired network, for example, with therouter 130. The wireless access points 104, 106, 108, 110, and 114 andthe access point 112 b may be compliant with one or more communicationstandard, for example, Wireless LAN (WLAN, IEEE 802.11 or variantsthereof or Bluetooth.

The router 130 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry and/or code thatmay be enabled to route communication between, for example, a wide areanetwork (WAN) and/or a LAN or WLAN. The access point 112 b and theInternet 132 may be coupled to the router 130. In this regard, therouter 132 may be enabled to route traffic between the Internet anddevices communicatively coupled to a WLAN via the access point 112 b.

The Internet 132 may comprise various devices comprising suitable logic,circuitry and/or code that may enable interconnection and exchange ofdata between a plurality of communication devices communicativelycoupled thereto. The web server 134 may comprise suitable logic,circuitry and/or code that may be communicatively coupled to theInternet 132 and may be enabled to provide web-based services to variouscommunication devices that may be communicatively coupled to it. Forexample, the web server 134 may host one or more web sites that may beaccessible via the communication devices.

In accordance with various embodiments of the invention, it may bedesirable that the access points 104, 106, 108, 110, and 114 maymaintain a plurality of communication session concurrently. For example,a plurality of wireless connections 120 a, 120 b, 120 c, 120 d, 120 e,120 f, 120 g, and 120 h may be active an any given time instant. Forexample, access point 106 may receive data via wireless connection 120 eand it may be desirable to forward this data to access point 108, viawireless connection 120 f. In these instances, better performance andmore optimal operation may be achievable if the wireless connection 120e and the wireless connection 120 f may not be operated on the sametransmission frequency, because it may reduce interference. This may beachieved by using repeater logic, circuitry and/or code in the wirelessaccess points.

FIG. 2A is a circuit diagram illustrating an exemplary repeaterarchitecture 200, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.Referring to FIG. 2A, there is shown an oscillator control 244, aplurality of antennas comprising antennas 201, 202, 204, 206, and 208;and a plurality of amplifiers 210 and 212 FIG. 2A also illustrates aplurality of multipliers comprising multipliers 214, 216, 218, 220, 222,224, 226 and 228; a plurality of low-pass filters (LPFs) comprising LPF230, 232, 234, and 236; and a plurality of filters comprising filters246 and 244. The exemplary repeater architecture 200 may furthercomprise an intermediate frequency processing block 242 and a pluralityof adders comprising adders 238 and 240 may be illustrated. There isalso shown the oscillator signals f1(I), f1(Q), f2(I), f2(Q), f3(I),f3(Q), f4(I), and f4(Q), which may communicatively couple the oscillatorcontrol 244 to the plurality of multipliers 214 through 228. One or moreof the exemplary components illustrated in FIG. 2A may be utilizedwithout departing from the scope of various embodiments of theinvention.

The oscillator control 244 may comprise suitable logic, circuitry and/orcode that may be enabled to receive and transmit radio signals, forexample from a control point 102, and may generate a plurality ofoscillator frequencies that may be enabled to control the transmitmodulation frequencies and receive demodulation frequencies at themultipliers 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224, 226, and 228, for example. Therepeater 200 may, for example, be substantially similar to the accesspoint 104. In this instance, the antenna 201 may receive the controlsignals from the control point 102 via the wireless connection 120 b.The one or more antennas 202 to 204 may comprise suitable logic,circuitry and/or code that may be enabled to receive a data signal. Inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention, the antennas 202through 204 may, for example, receive the wireless connection 120 c fromAccess point 114. In some instances, there may a plurality of antennas,as illustrated in FIG. 2A. In another embodiment of the invention, theremay be one receive antenna, for example, antenna 202.

The signal received at antennas 202 through 204 via, for example,wireless connection 120 c, may be communicatively coupled to amplifiers210 through 212. The amplifiers 210 and 212 may be similar, and maycomprise suitable logic, circuitry, and or code that may be enabled togenerate a low-noise amplified signal at the output that may beproportional to the input signal. The output signal of amplifier 210 maybe communicatively coupled to the multipliers 214 and the multiplier216. The multiplier 214 may demodulate the received signal to anintermediate frequency by multiplying with an in-phase carrier frequencyf1(I). Hence, multiplier 214 may generate a signal comprising thein-phase component of the received signal. Similarly, the multiplier 216may generate a signal comprising the quadrature component of thereceived signal, by multiplying the received signal with a quadraturecarrier frequency f1(Q). The low-pass filters 230 and 232 may remove orsignificantly attenuate some undesirable frequencies. An intermediatein-phase frequency component from the output of the filter 230 may becommunicatively coupled to the intermediate frequency processing block242. Similarly, an intermediate quadrature frequency component from theoutput of the filter 232 may be communicatively coupled to theintermediate frequency processing block 242. Similarly, an intermediatein-phase frequency component and an intermediate quadrature frequencycomponent may be generated from a signal received at antenna 204, viathe multipliers 218 and 220, and the LPFs 234 and 236. In accordancewith various embodiments of the invention, the transmit signals at thetransmit antennas 206 through 208 may comply with multiple antennatransmission protocols, for example, beamforming, MIMO, or transmitdiversity.

The intermediate frequency processing block 242 may comprise suitablelogic, circuitry and/or code that may be enabled to process a pluralityof intermediate frequency signals. For example, the intermediatefrequency processing block 242 may suitably process the received signalsfor transmission via the one or more antennas 206 through 208. Theintermediate frequency processing block 242 may generate an in-phase anda quadrature signal component for modulation and transmission via one ormore transmit antennas. For example, a first in-phase signal componentmay be coupled from the intermediate frequency processing block 242 tothe multiplier 222. The multiplier 222 may generate an in-phase RFsignal component by multiplication of the signal from the intermediatefrequency processing block 242 and an in-phase carrier frequency f3(I).Similarly, a quadrature RF signal component may be generated inmultiplier 224 by multiplication of a signal from the intermediatefrequency processing block 242 and a quadrature RF signal componentf3(Q). The in-phase RF signal and the quadrature RF signal may be addedin the adder 238, to form a composite RF signal. The filters, forexample filter 246 may be used to attenuate undesirable frequencies, andthe signal at the output of the filter 246 may be transmitted viaantenna 206. Similarly, other intermediate frequency in-phase andquadrature signal components may be generated at the intermediatefrequency processing block 242, and multiplied with in-phase andquadrature carrier frequencies at, for example, the multipliers 226 and228 to generate a composite RF signal at the output of the adder 240 fortransmission via antenna 208 and filter 244. In accordance with variousembodiments of the invention, the adders 238 and 240 may perform asubtraction or an addition, and may weigh the signal components to beprocessed. In some instances, it may be desirable to adjust the phasesof f1(I), f1(Q), f2(I), f2(Q), f3(I), f3(Q), f4(I), and f4(Q) to allowdesirable signal selection.

By choosing desirable in-phase and quadrature modulation frequencies,for example f3(I) and f3(Q), the transmission frequency may be chosendifferently from the receiver frequencies, thereby reducinginterference. In accordance with network topology and/or one or moreperformance metrics, the oscillator control 244 may generate a desirableset of demodulation frequencies and modulation frequencies. Inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention, the abovearchitecture may be used to receive one or more RF signals andre-transmit them at one or more RF frequencies, which may generally bedifferent from the receive frequencies. In some instances, the transmitfrequencies may be selected to be similar or equal to the receivefrequencies.

In some instances, multiple antennas may permit multiple antennaprocessing of received signals, for example for beamforming or diversityreception and/or transmission. In other instances, each receive antennaand/or transmit antenna may receive/transmit a different frequency, sothat multiple parallel single antenna repeater stations may begenerated.

By transmitting control information, for example from the control point102, to the access point repeater structures, for example, theoscillator control 244, desirable frequencies may be selected forreceiving and transmitting frequencies. In some instances, the frequencyband utilized for sending and receiving control information to theoscillator control 244 may be a different frequency band from the datatransmission, for example Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN.

FIG. 2B is a circuit diagram illustrating an exemplary lower complexityrepeater architecture 200 a, in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. Referring to FIG. 2B, there is shown an oscillator control244 a, a plurality of antennas comprising antennas 201 a, 202 a, 204 a,206 a, and 208 a; and a plurality of amplifiers comprising amplifiers210 a and 212 a. FIG. 2B also illustrated a plurality of multiplierscomprising multipliers 214 a, 216 a, 218 a, 220 a, 222 a, 224 a, 226 aand 228 a, a plurality of low-pass filters (LPFs) comprising LPFs 230 a,232 a, 234 a, and 236; and a plurality of filters comprising filters 246a and 244 a. The exemplary lower complexity repeater architecture mayfurther comprise an intermediate frequency processing block 242; and aplurality of adders comprising adders 238 and 240. There is also shownthe oscillator signals f1(I), f1(Q), f2(I), and f2(Q), which maycommunicatively couple the oscillator control 244 a to the plurality ofmultipliers 214 a through 228 a. All the components in FIG. 2B may besimilar to their corresponding components illustrated in FIG. 2A, exceptfor the oscillator control 244 a. For example, the LPF 230 a may besubstantially similar to the LPF 230. One or more of the exemplarycomponents illustrated in FIG. 2B may be utilized without departing fromthe scope of various embodiments of the invention.

The operation of the repeater architecture in FIG. 2B may besubstantially similar to the architecture illustrated in FIG. 2A,although the oscillator 244 a may generate a reduced number of carrierfrequencies. In some instances, it may be desirable to operate themodulator and/or the demodulator on a same frequency, in particular ininstances where multiple parallel repeater stages may be operated. Forexample, a received signal at antenna 202 a may be on a carrierfrequency of 62 GHz and the modulation/demodulation frequencies f1(I)and f1(Q) may be 60 GHz. Hence, the intermediate frequency may be at 2GHz, for example. After modulation and suitable filtering in themultipliers 222 a, 224 a, the adder 238 a and the filter 246 a, thetransmitted signal may be at a frequency of 60 GHz−2 GHz=58 GHz. Thismay be achieved by suitable selection of the modulation band generatedin the adder 238 a and the multipliers 222 a and 224 a. In accordancewith various embodiments of the invention, the adders 238 a and 240 amay perform a subtraction or an addition, and may weigh the signalcomponents to be processed. In some instances, it may be desirable toadjust the phases of f1(I), f1(Q), f2(I), and f2(Q) to allow desirablesignal selection.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary frequency adjustmentsteps, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The exemplarysteps may begin with start step 302. In step 304, an access point, forexample access point 104, may receive control information from anotheraccess point, or from a control point 102 in step 304. The controlinformation may typically be broadcast on a different frequency fromthose used for data communications. For example, the data communicationbetween the access points may be in the 60 GHz band, and the controlinformation may be transmitted in the 5 GHz band. The access point maycomprise the repeater architecture 200. The control signals may, forexample, be received via antenna 201 and may be processed in theoscillator control 244. In step 306, the oscillator control 244 mayadjust the modulation and demodulation frequencies of the repeaterarchitecture 200 via the in-phase and quadrature carrier frequencies. Insome instances, the frequency selection may be based on some performancemeasure, in other instances, the frequency selection may be made in acentralized manner directly at, for example, the control point 102. Bysetting the demodulation and modulation frequencies to desirable values,the transmission and/or reception frequencies may be set to desirablevalues. In most instances, the transmission frequencies may be differentfrom the reception frequencies. In step 308, after the setup, in thepreceding steps, the receiving and transmitting may be performed inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a method and systemfor sharing modulation information between multiple access points maycomprise receiving modulation control information and demodulationcontrol information at an access point, for example access point 104,comprising one or more receivers and one or more transmitters, asillustrated in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B. One or more modulation frequencies,for example f3(I), f3(Q), f4(I), and f4(Q), may be adjusted and utilizedto generate transmit signals by the one or more transmitters based onthe received modulation control information, as illustrated in FIG. 2A.One or more demodulation frequencies, for example f1(I), f1(Q), f2(I),and f2(Q), may be adjusted and utilized to generate intermediatefrequency signals by the one or more receivers based on the receiveddemodulation control information, as described for FIG. 2A.

The modulation control information and the demodulation controlinformation may be received via a control point, for example controlpoint 102. The modulation control information and demodulation controlinformation may be received on a link, for example link 120 b, operatingin a frequency band different from said transmit frequencies and saidreceive frequencies, which may be, for example, wireless links 120 c and120 e. The frequency band of the link 120 b, for example, may beBluetooth or a IEEE 802.11 Wireless Link. One or more of the one or moremodulation frequencies and the one or more demodulation frequencies maybe substantially similar. For example, f1(I) may be substantiallysimilar to f3(I). The transmit frequencies and the receive frequenciesmay be in the 60 GHz band. A plurality of the intermediate frequencysignals received via a plurality of antennas, for example antennas 202through 204, may be combined, for example in the intermediate frequencyprocessing block 242. Intermediate frequency signals may be generated,for example in the intermediate frequency processing block 242, for theone or more transmitters in accordance with multiple antennatransmission protocols. This may include MIMO, beamforming and/ortransmission diversity protocols. Radio frequency interference may bereduced during the adjustment of the receive frequencies and theadjustment of the transmit frequencies.

Another embodiment of the invention may provide a machine-readablestorage, having stored thereon, a computer program having at least onecode section executable by a machine, thereby causing the machine toperform the steps as described herein for a method and system forsharing modulation information between multiple access points.

Accordingly, the present invention may be realized in hardware,software, or a combination of hardware and software. The presentinvention may be realized in a centralized fashion in at least onecomputer system, or in a distributed fashion where different elementsare spread across several interconnected computer systems. Any kind ofcomputer system or other apparatus adapted for carrying out the methodsdescribed herein is suited. A typical combination of hardware andsoftware may be a general-purpose computer system with a computerprogram that, when being loaded and executed, controls the computersystem such that it carries out the methods described herein.

The present invention may also be embedded in a computer programproduct, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation ofthe methods described herein, and which when loaded in a computer systemis able to carry out these methods. Computer program in the presentcontext means any expression, in any language, code or notation, of aset of instructions intended to cause a system having an informationprocessing capability to perform a particular function either directlyor after either or both of the following: a) conversion to anotherlanguage, code or notation; b) reproduction in a different materialform.

While the present invention has been described with reference to certainembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. In addition, manymodifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material tothe teachings of the present invention without departing from its scope.Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited tothe particular embodiment disclosed, but that the present invention willinclude all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

1. A method for processing communication signals, the method comprising:receiving modulation control information and demodulation controlinformation at an access point comprising one or more receivers and oneor more transmitters; adjusting one or more modulation frequenciesutilized to generate transmit signals by said one or more transmittersbased on said received modulation control information; and adjusting oneor more demodulation frequencies utilized to generate intermediatefrequency signals by said one or more receivers based on said receiveddemodulation control information.
 2. The method according to claim 1,comprising receiving said modulation control information and saiddemodulation control information via a control point.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, comprising receiving said modulation controlinformation and demodulation control information on a link operating ina frequency band different from said transmit frequencies and saidreceive frequencies.
 4. The method according to claim 3, whereas saidfrequency band of said link is a Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11 Wireless LANlink.
 5. The method according to claim 1, whereas one or more of saidone or more modulation frequencies and said one or more demodulationfrequencies are substantially similar.
 6. The method according to claim1, whereas said transmit frequencies and said receive frequencies are inthe 60 GHz band.
 7. The method according to claim 1, comprisingcombining a plurality of said intermediate frequency signals receivedvia a plurality of antennas.
 8. The method according to claim 1,comprising generating intermediate frequency signals for said one ormore transmitters in accordance with multiple antenna transmissionprotocols.
 9. The method according to claim 1, comprising reducing radiofrequency interference during said adjustment of said receivefrequencies.
 10. The method according to claim 1, comprising reducingradio frequency interference during said adjustment of said transmitfrequencies.
 11. A system for processing communication signals, thesystem comprising: one or more circuits enabled to: receive modulationcontrol information and demodulation control information at an accesspoint comprising one or more receivers and one or more transmitters;adjust one or more modulation frequencies utilized to generate transmitsignals by said one or more transmitters based on said receivedmodulation control information; and adjust one or more demodulationfrequencies utilized to generate intermediate frequency signals by saidone or more receivers based on said received demodulation controlinformation.
 12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said one ormore circuits receive said modulation control information and saiddemodulation control information via a control point.
 13. The systemaccording to claim 11, wherein said one or more circuits receive saidmodulation control information and demodulation control information on alink operating in a frequency band different from said transmitfrequencies and said receive frequencies.
 14. The system according toclaim 13, whereas said frequency band of said link is a Bluetooth orIEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN link.
 15. The system according to claim 11,whereas one or more of said one or more modulation frequencies and saidone or more demodulation frequencies are substantially similar.
 16. Thesystem according to claim 11, whereas said transmit frequencies and saidreceive frequencies are in the 60 GHz band.
 17. The system according toclaim 11, wherein said one or more circuits combine a plurality of saidintermediate frequency signals received via a plurality of antennas. 18.The system according to claim 11, wherein said one or more circuitsgenerate intermediate frequency signals for said one or moretransmitters in accordance with multiple antenna transmission protocols.19. The system according to claim 11, wherein said one or more circuitsreduce radio frequency interference during said adjustment of saidreceive frequencies.
 20. The system according to claim 11, wherein saidone or more circuits reduce radio frequency interference during saidadjustment of said transmit frequencies.